


Bruise

by GoblinCity



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars VII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Genre: Kylux is its own warning, M/M, No Beta, descriptions of injuries, idk - Freeform, talk of abuse, we die as men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-01 01:26:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13987476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoblinCity/pseuds/GoblinCity
Summary: Based on a tweet by@thisisatitle:"Kylo finding Hux in his quarters, tending to his wounds post-TLJ and asking what happened to him.Hux has no words."





	1. Hux

He felt _wretched_. Hands on either side of the sink, shoulders arched and head hanging between his forearms, Hux felt every pulsing ache, every sharp twinge of pain in his body. He looked up at the mirror and stared into the defeated eyes of the man reflected back. 

What choices were left to him? _None_. With the firing of Starkiller, Hux had alienated himself from every scenario of comfortable exile. And the crux of the matter was, _he didn’t want to leave_. The First Order was his life’s work, his purpose, and he believed in the necessity of her end goals. 

How long would those goals exist with a madman steering the helm? The Republic was shattered, the Resistance left to the human contents of one junk freighter, this should be their hour of victory. The First Order was all the galaxy had left to organize and guide it through chaos and into perfection.

Kylo Ren would ruin it. 

That impulsive, petulant child ruled by his emotions and lacking in any modicum of impulse control proved on Crait just how little he valued anything other than himself and his own petty vendettas.

Hux exhaled and dropped his head again, unable to bear the broken gaze of the man before him. It wasn’t even a choice, he was the General and would go down with his ship.

In the other room, his comm alerted continuously, but Hux ignored it. Would ignore it for the duration of this small amount of wallowing he permitted himself, then for the duration of time it took to tend his injuries enough to get by until he could tuck tail and go to med bay and be properly seen.

His chrono alerted him that his allotted time for self pity was up. Hux exhaled another deep breath that was most certainly not a sigh, then straightened. He gathered a tube of bacta, a blister pack of painkillers, a hypodermic battle stim, and the antique hand mirror Hux inherited after his father’s timely demise. The man did have grandiose taste in Imperial era luxury goods, Hux was more than pleased to take possession of them.

The bedroom, with its mirrored closet door, was more suited to this, so Hux deposited his supplies carefully on the made to regulation standards bed. A phantom ache pulsated just under his breastbone as he realized this was the first time in a while that he and Phasma would not be patching each other up. She lived, at least, suspended in bacta for the time being, but not gone entirely.

Hux tightened the towel around his thin waist, arranging it as he sat so the overlapping edges parted around his bruised hip. He was just opening the bacta when the hydraulic hiss of the door startled him. The loping stomp of familiar boots froze all but the rapid acceleration of Hux’s heart as he heard them move through his living quarters, towards the closed bedroom door.

“Maybe this will teach you to answer your _kriffing_ comm-“ Kylo burst through, the thin metal door clattering noisily into its pocket frame. Kylo seemed to fill up the whole doorway as he paused there, his posture loosening from tightly clenched muscles of angry frustration to something unsure. Hux watched it all play out in the reflection of the mirror on his closet door.

Kylo met the eyes of Hux’s reflection in the mirror, brow creasing. He tipped his head and asked, “What happened to you?”

Hux laughed and felt himself go a little mad.


	2. Kylo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo's PoV

He scowled at the comm, of a mind to crush it in his hand until the casing broke and the circuitry spilled out like guts, like the first one. Or throw it, like the one before that, watch it shatter against the wall in a satisfying but brief shower or sparks and thin pieces. The first comm has been his, the second he appropriated from Unamo, and the current one he was using to reach Hux previously belonged to Mitaka.

If Hux would answer anyone’s comms, it would be those from that sniveling wreck of a man. At least knowing Mitaka was without comm and in fear for his life, meant he wasn’t currently planning a coup with Hux.

Hux was not to be trusted, on the one hand, on the other, he needed Hux. Hux has his fingers in too many pies, hoarded integral pieces to himself. Hux was also the face of the Order. While the old Imperial holdovers sneered behind his back, the younger officers and troops respect the red haired weasel. 

And both of those things made Hux indispensable to Kylo. 

All the day to day drudgery, the necessary mundane tasks, Hux thoroughly enjoyed them. Probably got hard thinking about refueling costs and trade route patrol rotations. The Supreme Leader was a figure needing to view the whole expanse of the plan rather than scramble to attend details. 

Hux was also somewhat technologically creative, Kylo could admit that. And it made picking at him all the easier. One mention of clone troopers and he frothed.

Kylo leaned back in Hux’s chair, salt encrusted boots up on Hux’s prim desk, a tumbler of Hux’s secret Corellian brandy stash in one hand, comm in the other. He had sought the General in his office and upon not finding him there, decided to help himself and partake of Hux’s stash.

Alcohol didn’t affect him and Kylo found the taste vile, but it would irk Hux so the unpleasantness was worth the reward.

He pressed the comm again, frustration growing. Hux left to his own devices for extended periods of time would be a thing of the past, Kylo decided. Especially since Kylo got the inkling that Hux was avoiding him on purpose.

Setting the half empty tumbler aside, he scraped his boots off Hux’s desk, leaving a trail of salt and stood, striding towards the door. Kylo reached out with the Force, searching for that burning flare of Hux’s presence in the ship. 

He stepped through the door and turned on his heel, finding Hux’s diminished presence in Hux’s own quarters. Perhaps he was in a sulk for Kylo having exerted his new authority on Crait.

Kylo overrode the authorization code and stepped in. The tidy main room was dim and empty of Hux. Had the General ignored him for a nap? An extended piss? A wank? 

“Maybe this will teach you to answer your _kriffing_ comm-“ The thin bedroom door buckled as Kylo wrenched it open with the Force, retracting it none too delicately back into its pocket.

He stopped in the doorway, one hand on the frame, suddenly uncertain of his intrusion. Hux looked so _narrow_ out of uniform, nothing to pad him out or bulk him up, just a thin towel that hid nothing.

Kylo’s gaze traced over the outline of Hux’s ribs, the fine knobs of his spine, entire back a mess of purpling bruises, some so dark they were black. Livid strangulation marks collared Hux’s neck and Kylo could make out four distinct fingers one one side of his neck, a thumb on the other. Something hot flared in him, angry. Someone had done this, hurt him.

Kylo saw Hux watching him in the mirror, felt the rapid beat of his heart, pounding out the tempo of a prey animal. He caught Hux’s eyes and asked, “What happened to you?”

Hux seemed to startle, the laughed in a way that made Kylo’s skin crawl.


	3. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conclusion.

Hux's sharp laughter trailed off into silence that settled between them. Kylo hesitated in the doorway a moment longer, then stepped into the room. Hux turned to look at him in person, rather than through the reflection of the mirror.

"General… _Hux_ ," Kylo asked, softer. "What happened?" He held his hands out as though gentling a startled animal, placating a frightened thing ready to flee. 

His mind finally caught up with him and Hux stared, unblinking, at Kylo, trying to parse what game it was the Supreme Leader was playing. Was Hux meant to assuage him? Lie? What was it Ren wanted from him? Stars, he'd taken everything else. 

"You happened," Hux said, tone flat, devoid of inflection. He looked away again. Let whatever was to come happen so he could get it over with, finish licking his wounds, then get back to his job.

"I-" Kylo's brow furrowed, then he shook his head, denying the accusation nonverbally. "No, that's-"

Hux looked up at him again, "A lie?" There was finally some inflection in his tone, a faint hint of challenge.

Kylo frowned, "No-" He reached out through the Force and felt along the surface of Hux's emotions. He believed what he was saying, wholly and entirely. His frown deepened. "But I know you believe that." 

Hux looked away from Kylo again and reached out his hand, palm up.

Kylo stared, unmoving.

Hux flexed his fingers towards his palm, then out again, in a 'come here' gesture. Kylo stepped to the side of the bed. Hux sighed, "Give me your hand. Your right hand." 

Kylo complied silently, lifted his arm, reached out to gently lay his hand in the cup of Hux's palm. Hux's fingers closed around Kylo's hand, gripping the leather of his glove and tugged it off. He tossed the glove behind him onto the bed and took Kylo's hand again in both of his own. Hux arranged Kylo's hand against his throat, fingers on one side, thumb on the other. 

Kylo let this all happen, only watched, frozen, as his hand slotted perfectly into the pattern of bruising around the pale column of Hux's throat. "I didn't…know," Kylo said weakly. 

"That's almost worse." It made him feel all the more insignificant that Hux had been so injured without intention behind it. 

"That's not what I meant." Kylo withdrew his hand and crossed his arms over his chest. Because he had meant it. When he throttled Hux, he'd wanted to humiliate him, to make him hurt. _To show Hux his place as inferior to Kylo._ And on Crait, he'd intended to kill. 

But he- he'd been upset. Off balance. Snoke was suddenly gone from his mind, Kylo had been rejected _again_ for not being the Ben Solo that everyone had wanted instead of the person who he was. And Hux had been _right_ about Skywalker. Kylo had known he was right and he had been so angry at Hux for his ability to be objective because he wasn't mired in history with Luke Skywalker and-

"Then what did you mean," Hux asked, voice going back to that flat, soft tone. He wanted to pull his blankets around him, to hide himself and his body, but it didn't matter. Let Kylo look on his handiwork and realize that actions had consequences.

"None of that should have left you… like this," Kylo said lamely. He uncrossed his arms and sat at the edge of Hux's bed. After a long beat of silence, he added, "You were never so damaged with Snoke's punishments."

"Snoke used the precision of a surgical droid to mete out punishment. Minimal injury used to heighten the terror and maximize the humiliation," Hux said. "You're a bludgeon. All emotion and no self-control. A weapon, not a leader." 

"I was his weapon, his enforcer, control was unnecessary. Only results," Kylo was trying very hard not to act out, to allow his anger at Hux's words to spill over into action. Seeing the livid results of his previous actions painted in ugly tones over Hux's pale skin was very much strengthening the resolve towards restraint.

"Are you appreciating your results, Supreme Leader?" Hux asked, no bite to his tone. 

"No," Kylo said, voice soft. He searched for a way to explain, for the right words, "I use the Force to mitigate injury, to help in healing faster, it doesn't…"

"It doesn't occur to you that others cannot do so as well," Hux finished for him. "Even though you enjoy lording your mastery of it over the rest of us. Did you know you nearly killed Mitaka once? Broke his hyoid bone and nearly crushed his trachea. All for what, delivering you bad news of your own failure?"

"It wasn't my-" He scowled, knowing Hux was trying to incite his anger. Probably to gloat some more. 

"Those you currently claim to lead fear you," Hux cut him off. 

"it's better to be feared than-" 

Hux cut him off again, "Is that what Snoke taught you?" He snorted softly. "Look where it got him."

"I didn't fear him," Kylo shifted closer to Hux on the bed. 

"Ah, you finally admit you killed him," Hux said dryly. 

Kylo's lips parted and his brow furrowed, his first reaction was to deny it, attempt to backtrack, "I did." There was no point. He was the Supreme Leader now, who would challenge him, who would attempt to punish him for Snoke's death.

Hux closed his eyes, there was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to yell at Kylo for having this opportunity and squandering it, to advise him on how to make the best of this situation, to spin it to his favor. To slit his throat and watch the thrice damned Force user bleed out at his feet. 

But he couldn't form words. Couldn't find them. His mind still and blank and Hux was starting to enjoy the numbness of it all.

"Don't do that." Kylo could feel Hux's presence in the Force dimming, could feel the constant noise of his mind quieting to nothing. 

"Is that an order, Supreme Leader?" Hux asked. "I'm afraid I can't follow it."

"Hux-" 

"Will you punish me for it? Go ahead." Hux knew he was tempting an unstable mad man and he couldn't find it in himself to care. What was physical pain? It was nothing. He would live through it or not and if he did, the sharp ache would become naught but a memory.

"I'm sorry," Kylo couldn't take this, the dawning chasm of Hux's mind opening and swallowing everything, leaving nothing of Hux behind. He felt himself losing his former co-commander and it made him desperate. Even his words sounded desperate. 

"Words mean nothing." Hux murmured. 

"Let my actions speak for me," Kylo leaned in across the bed towards Hux, offering his bare hand. 

Hux's brow furrowed as he looked for a long minute at Kylo's bare hand, the long, strong fingers, calloused from training, from his saber, perhaps. Hux did not meet Kylo's eyes, but reached out, fingertips brushing over Kylo's palm. 

Kylo lifted Hux's medical supplies out of the way, using the Force to levitate them down on the bedside table. He went to his knees on the bed, not releasing Hux's hand, and knee walked up the mattress, drawing Hux up with him. 

Hux settled between his knees, allowing himself to be led because- because he didn't know why. Apathy? Perhaps. The fact that it… just didn't matter. Kylo released him and for a moment he mourned the loss of that warm hand on his own. Shifting, Kylo shed his tunic, his cape, his other glove. He stripped his chest down bare and eased Hux against him, Hux's back to Kylo's chest. 

He'd lost his towel somewhere between the edge of the bed and the spread of Kylo's legs, body entirely bare and without any feeling towards it one way or another. The Academy had drilled any sense of modesty or embarrassment of his body out of him. He wasn't, however, immune to the chill of the room and shivered slightly before he was finally settled against the heat of Kylo's body. 

Kylo tucked his face against Hux's neck and Hux let his head fall back against Kylo's shoulders. Then, Kylo closed his eyes and reached out to the Force in a way he hadn't done for another person since training with Skywalker. He felt Hux's injuries and began to sink himself and his power into the General's bruised body.

The sensation was warmth to Hux, warmth and relief that flooded him, seeking out the worst of the pain first, easing it away to nothing. His own eyes drifted closed, breath syncing to the rise and fall of Kylo's chest moving against him. With him. 

"Is this how it will be, then?" Hux asked, drowsiness and lack of self-preservation leading him to ask. "Pain, then relief? I imagine it will be effective." Effective in driving Hux mad.

"No," Kylo breathed against Hux's neck, watching the bruising fade away as the pooling blood under Hux's pale skin broke down and dissolved away, guided by the Force. "I don't want it to be that way."

"Then don't let it be that way," Hux murmured, feeling himself at the precipice between sleep and waking.

"Stay with me. Show me how," Kylo whispered against Hux's skin.

"Yes… Supreme Leader," Hux murmured as he dozed off, lulled to sleep under the dual assault of Kylo's body heat and the Force flooding through him, heating him from the inside and soothing away his injuries. 

Kylo wrapped an arm around Hux's waist, pulled his cloak over Hux's nudity, shielding him from the cool recirculating air of the room. As Hux slept, Kylo cradled the embers of Hux's mind within Kylo's own Force presence, desperate that when Hux awoke, the embers would rekindle to the same bright flame that reduced planets to ash. Kylo had warmed himself before the fire of Hux's mind for years without realizing it until now, when Kylo had banked those flames himself only to feel the cold those flames had kept at bay. 

_Please, he thought, _please don't leave me alone in the cold.__

_And Hux slumbered on._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hux makes a full recovery.

**Author's Note:**

> An act in three parts.


End file.
